Inflatable air pads for camping and backpacking are becoming very popular and replacing older self-inflating foam-filled designs. Some camping and backpacking pads include built-in pumps, but in order to reduce weight, packed size, and cost, many air pads do not include pumps. A standard air filled sleeping pad of a couple inches thickness, 25″ width and 75″ length contains a large air volume for inflation with one's lungs. Various air pumps exist for inflating products that hold air, such as inflatable air pads. Some of these air pumps require an electrical connection or a charge held in a battery. Other pumps are operated by a user's foot. Most pumps are rather large and some are very heavy and not conducive for carrying when hiking, backpacking or camping in remote areas. Additionally, current pumps cannot be compacted into a very small and lightweight format for travel. What is needed is a small pump, which is lightweight, packs small, and allows quick and easy inflation of a sleeping pad and other inflatable products for backcountry use.
Devices designed to block cellular and wireless service are often expensive and bulky. Designs that incorporate lightweight fabric have not been successful in blocking cellular or wireless service as the stitching or sewing patterns allow for small holes that allow the signal to escape. What is needed is a new method of stitching that allows for the use of lightweight conductive fabric while ensuring that the stitching does not allow for gaps or holes through which cellular or wireless service signals could escape.
Litter baskets have been used for a long time to allow for easy lift and removal of an injured patient. Current designs provide for blankets and tarps and other coverings to be placed over and around the patient to keep the patient warm and protected from the elements. As a result, access to the patient is extremely limited. What is needed is an easy to use covering design that allows for easy access to the patient at multiple entry points while also protecting the entire patient from the elements.
Tents are typically constructed with various door and window access panels. These doors and windows generally use a zipper system. The zipper systems often require two hand operation and do not allow a corner portion of a tent to slide upward from the ground and downward to the ground. As a result, what is needed is a new method of providing for an opening and closing system that allows for simple one hand operation and an infinite amount of positions.
Sleeping bags have typically been designed to keep a user warm during cold weather conditions while the user is sleeping. Often, a user will want to get warm in their sleeping bag, but also be able to sit up and read or cook or do another activity while keeping the sleeping bag wrapped around them. With mummy style sleeping bags, once a user unzips the bag to allow their arms to come out of the bag, the upper portion of the bag will fall off the user and no longer provide any protection. What is needed is a new sleeping bag design that allows a user to sit up while still maintaining the wrapping effect of the sleeping bag.
Tents that use a single pole in the center of the tent require that the bottom of the pole rest on the floor of the tent. In adverse conditions, such as wind, pressure is placed on the pole and the pole will often wear into and ruin the floor of the tent. What is needed is a new method or system for use in single pole design tents that protects the floor from the wear of the center pole.
Tents that feature advanced technology, such as those used by soldiers in remote areas are very expensive to produce. These tents are often exchanged within various locations, such as jungles, desserts, forests, and other locations. The color of the tent is critical in protecting the soldiers from harm, however it is too expensive to maintain an assortment of tents in multiple pattern and color variations to accommodate all of the potential places a soldier could be deployed. What is needed is an interchangeable cover that allows the same tent to be used in multiple locations while still providing critical camouflage protection.
Campers often use inflatable mattresses. Often each camper has his or her own single air mattress. When two people want to join their single air mattresses, there has not been any easy and comfortable way to accomplish this task. As a result, what is needed is a simple system that allows two single air mattresses to be combined into one large air mattress.